Month: July 2016

While it is August as I post this, it took place in July. While we were watching the British Open here in the U.S., Wendy and Friends were in Scotland playing their own rounds of golf and pub hopping!

First tee at North Berwick West Links

A precarious lie, but a good shot out!

Favorite St. Andrews pub

A toast to Corn Beal Forrence 68 who couldnt make the trip this time

I love haggis! (Yes, I had my nails done in tartan for the trip)

July 29, 2016

I send along these articles and emails (regarding a former student’s accusation of her rape by a teacher in 1998) in case they have missed you. Please read all the way to recent photo of Diana McBrier.

Thank you to the many alumnae who have signed letters to me and to the school administration regarding reports of past incidents of inappropriate relationships between adults and students at the school.

I hear pain and sorrow from women who were the victims of sexual abuse while under the school’s care. I hear compassion for Kat and her fellow survivors. I hear anger that this ever happened, and that it has gone unreported and unacknowledged for too long. I hear cynicism that because the school failed in the past, we cannot ever get it right. I hear remorse that we did not help our vulnerable classmates.

At times the voices have been overwhelming. I add another voice to the clamor for action: Resolve.

You have called for a dramatic change in how Emma Willard addresses this issue on our campus today, how we face it in our narrative history, and how we prepare our current and future students for a world in which females are too often the targets of sexual abuse. We have been asked to assess and rewrite our programming and policies. More importantly, we have been challenged to frame a dialogue that will ultimately bring change to the culture of our school, to our peer institutions and to secondary schools.

We begin with our first step; we own this.

Sexual abuse is part of our history. We will uncover the secrets and unflinchingly share the facts with our community. We will expose bad practices and unenforced policies. We commit to transparency.

We believe in the investigative process. We expect the work by Leslie Gomez and Gina Smith to be professional, scrupulous, deliberate and fair. We will accept nothing less.

Our girls deserve robust prevention education to insure a safer campus now, and to prepare them for the world beyond our grey walls. With the help of organizations dedicated to abuse prevention, education and practice, we can show our students what is safe and what is not, how to recognize predatory behavior, when to ask for help and when to report concerns. We are seeking the expertise of professionals outside our community, to train us. Our policies have to be clear and visible and enforced. We have to make sure every student, faculty, staff and administration member knows how and to whom to report sexual abuse or assaults. The process has to be safe, confidential and above all, supportive of the victim. We commit to working with alumnae, experts, students, and parents to cultivate a culture that keeps our girls safe, informed and aware.

We as a board and an administration will inform you in the coming weeks what actions are underway. We will announce our schedule of programming, events and lectures that support our commitment to bolstering our policies and enriching our curriculum to reinforce our understanding of this issue.

We recognize this will take time. Our actions are deliberate and broad, not casual or occasional. We commit to this for the long haul.

Emma Willard School invites you to join us on campus Tuesday, August 23, for a conversation with Linda Johnson, co-chair of the Education Law Group for McLane Middleton Professional Associates, a Boston-based law firm. Linda has developed trainings in the areas of harassment, hazing, bullying, safe school zone, abuse reporting obligations, and maintaining safe boundaries with students.

Linda will be here during opening days to lead faculty and staff in a training session on “Setting and Maintaining Healthy Relationships and Boundaries with Students.”

We are extending this invitation to all of our alumnae.

12:00-1:00 p.m. Luncheon with Faculty and Staff

1:00-2:00 p.m. Conversation with Linda Johnson

Please RSVP by August 12 to alumnae@emmawillard.org or 866.833.1814 if you plan to attend.

For more information on Emma Willard School, healthy boundary issues, and Linda and this campus event, please visit emmawillard.org/healthyboundaries.

Sincerely,

Dr. Susan R. Groesbeck

Head of School, Interim

PS. As part of our ongoing programming around this issue, we will be holding similar Pepper Hamilton webinars like the one announced yesterday in the future. Keep updated at emmawillard.org/healthyboundaries.

July 21

An invitation to an EW Webinar regarding what the school is doing about the recent sexual harrassment notice:

Learn about how Emma Willard School is handling reports of past sexual misconduct on campus by participating in a webinar with Pepper Hamilton LLP, Philadelphia on Thursday, July 28 at 5 p.m. EST. Emma Willard School has hired them to investigate and prepare a written report.

There will be a short presentation followed by an opportunity for Q&A.

Hi. A recent photo of Chris Riehl and me in Iran this past May. A wonderful adventure. Miss Prescott would have been proud of us. (Surely it was Miss Prescott for Ancient History).

I heard from Wendy Dominic who is in Scotland playing golf. When I asked if she was going to the British Open, her response: “No time for the Open! Too busy playing. But, we have an early tee time at St. Andrews on Sunday and we hope to watch the last round at our favorite pub.”

Jeni Smith and RoseAnn Knox Beaudoin

After 50 years we finally got together we are still the girls that roomed in Hyphen and Sage our junior and senior years. Shared lots of EWS stories.

We met to day in Ticonderoga,NY. Which was half way between where she lives in

Piseco, N Y and where I am visiting in Stowe, VT. We need to take the time to reconnect with those we were so close to in our formative years. We may have gone down various paths in our lives but a day like today we just picked up from the last time we saw each other shortly after graduation in 1966.

And the following is indeed a blast from the past!!

From Nancy Shepard Kovaleff

A while ago someone asked if Bob Dylan had performed for the school in our day. I don’t remember him coming but I do remember a guy everyone seemed to think was kinda silly. Was it Tom Jones? Roy Orbison? Engelbert Humperdinck? Well, I think I may have answered my own question. I found a picture in the spring supplement, sent after graduation. The performer was George Hamilton IV and the occasion was Headmaster’s Holiday 1966.